27 August 2012

Only a few more days of August left? It's hard to believe! I still have some summery-type recipes to share with you, so I guess I better get crackin'! These are some bars I made in June when it was my turn to make treats for church on Sunday morning. I made my Orange Spice Coffee Cake, but I needed something in addition without nuts and cinnamon because we have a member with food allergies. I started with a recipe I found in Family Circle for Pink Lemonade Crumb Bars, but I ended up changing both the crust and the filling, quite significantly, so that they really aren't the same recipe at all anymore. Here's what I ended up with.

In a small bowl, combine the blackberry jam and apricot preserves. Spread over crust and sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over the top. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan on rack.

Makes 18 bars.

Now, I consider this kind of a summery recipe because of the blackberry and apricot, but actually, since it calls for preserves, it can easily be made any time of year. The crust comes out kind of like a shortbread. I thought it was too thin and I mentioned that I might tinker with the recipe to make it different, but a couple of people said, "No! Don't change a thing!" Okay, okay!

Even though I sprayed the dish liberally with baking spray, the bars still stuck to the side where the preserves cooked along the edge. But once you get the sides loosened, the rest come out like a breeze.

The neat thing about this recipe is that you can change it up by using whatever kind of preserves you like. Strawberry, raspberry, orange, etc. Just make it a total of 1 cup of preserves and you're good to go!

Kate from Food Babbles chose this recipe when she was assigned my blog for the Secret Recipe Club in June 2013. She made hers with raspberry instead of apricot. Click the button below to check out her post.